Expandable purse

ABSTRACT

An expandable purse has a lower inner compartment open-able from the purse&#39;s bottom. The compartment contains an auxiliary bag that is attached by an edge of its bottom to an inside edge of the inner compartment. This allows the auxiliary bag to be extended and brought up around the purse with the purse sitting upright within the auxiliary bag and with the opening of the purse accessible within the auxiliary bag.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application 61/554,824 filed Nov. 2, 2011, under 35 U.S.C. 119 (e) and is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

This disclosure is related to purses that have compartments with auxiliary bags.

BACKGROUND

There are a wide variety of known purses and bags with various modes of expandability, however there remains a need for a purse that is expandable in a manner that preserves the ready use and access to the purse in its unexpanded state and its contents.

SUMMARY

The problem of an expandable purse that retains the utility of the purse from its unexpanded state when it is expanded is addressed by a purse with a compartment accessed from its external, bottom surface that contains a bag that can be removed from its compartment and used to contain the purse

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an example purse embodiment;

FIG. 2 shows the purse of FIG. 1 with its flap open;

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the purse of FIG. 1 from its bottom, exposing a zipper;

FIG. 4 shows the purse of FIG. 1 with footwear being removed from an inner compartment and a bag from its inner compartment; the bag extending downward, inside out;

FIG. 5 shows the purse of FIG. 1 with the bag turned right side in and partially brought up around the purse portion;

FIG. 6 shows view and apparatus to FIG. 5 with the bag brought completely up around and over the purse portion, the original purse is seen in dashed lines inside the bag;

FIG. 7 is the view, apparatus and configuration of FIG. 6 with a pair of high-heel shoes going into the bag in a space adjacent to the original purse location;

FIG. 8 is the view, apparatus, and general configuration of FIG. 6 with the bag zipped closed and the original purse seen inside it upright in dashed lines;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view along the line X-X of FIG. 1 showing internal compartments of a version of the bag;

FIG. 10 is the apparatus and view of FIG. 9 with the bag released from its compartment;

FIG. 11 is the apparatus and view of FIG. 9 with the bag pulled up to enclose the purse;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of an alternate purse embodiment showing a dashed line indicating a bag compartment that is below the main compartment rather than behind the main compartment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Structure

An example expandable purse is described to illustrate the claimed teachings. The example purse 1, seen in FIG. 1 is of a clutch style with a closing flap 2. It has a small compartment accessible from its bottom surface that is not accessible from the interior of the purse. That compartment is accessible by a zippered 4 opening along the external bottom of the purse 1. As seen in the figures, the embodiment pictures and described have a zipper version that continues a short distance up the side of the purse. Alternate embodiments (not shown) have a zipper that extends only along the bottom. Some versions can use an “invisible zipper” or other closure type.

FIG. 2 shows the example purse with its flap open showing a small internal zippered 3 compartment 22 at the inside rear wall of the purse. FIG. 3 is an upside-down view of the purse affording a view of the bottom zipper 4.

In FIG. 4 the inner, rear wall compartment is seen open and a pair of folding sandals 10 are being removed from that compartment. Also, the bottom zipper 4 is open and the auxiliary bag 6 is seen hanging down from its inside bottom 7 which is connected to the purse. The bag is attached by only one of its bottom's edges 11 to a corresponding edge just on the inside of the purse's zippered compartment on the rear edge of the purse. In this state the bag is inside out. FIG. 5 illustrates the state of the unit with the bag 6 turned right side in up around the purse 1. Also, the flap 2 is open.

Since the bag and the purse are attached along corresponding respective bottom edges, the purse remains upright in the deployed bag and against one inner side of the bag as seen in FIG. 6 with the original purse unit seen in dashed lines. The flap is seen as readily accessible in this state. FIG. 7 shows high-heeled shoes 12 being inserted into the bag 6 adjacent to the purse 1. In FIG. 8 the bag is seen zippered closed.

The various compartments are better understood with reference to the sectional, schematic FIGS. 9, 10, and 11. These views show the main compartment 20, the small compartment for sandals or the like 22, and the hidden compartment 21 for the bag 6. In FIG. 10 the bag is released and is hanging down from its inside-out bottom 7 to the purse 1 at their mutual attachment along the rear lower edge 11 of the inside-out bottom of the Bag and the inside seam of the zippered 4 compartment 21. In FIG. 11 the bag is seen pulled up to cover the purse 1.

Alternative Embodiment

One alternative embodiment purse 1′ is diagramed in FIG. 12. It shows a dashed line representing a lower hidden bag compartment 21′. In this version the depth of the main purse compartment is reduced and the bag compartment is below the main compartment. Other embodiments can contain the auxiliary bag housed in a compartment 21 but not attached to the purse 1 in any manner, yet intended for the same function as described.

Operation

When out at night wearing high-heels, a person often carries a small clutch purse. At any point during or after the evening, high-heels become uncomfortable and it is desirable to change into other footwear with some convenient way to carry the high-heel shoes.

Using the expandable purse described above, a person can open a small compartment in the clutch an extract a compact pair of foldable sandals to wear. The zipper on the bottom of the purse is opened and the auxiliary bag is extracted. The bag is turned right side in and pulled up around the purse creating a larger holding space. Then the high-heel shoes can be placed in the bag next to the purse.

If an item in the purse, such as money, glasses, or keys, is desired, the bag is opened. Sitting upright in the outer bag is the original clutch. It is right side up with its flap directly accessible to allow retrieval of items in the purse.

Other embodiments can employ a larger mesh shopping bag as the auxiliary bag. The purse might have a clasp closure rather than a flap. Some versions may not include compartments intended for compact shoes. Two-part interlocking seals might be used instead of zippers. Alternately a hook-and-loop fastener can be used.

Embodiments employing these teachings include versions that are not intended for use as a purse. A messenger bag style embodiment, a briefcase embodiment, and even a tool-carrying embodiment are contemplated. 

It is claimed: 1-10. (canceled)
 11. The container of claim 6 in combination with a pair of shoes.
 12. The combination of claim 11 where the shoes are light-weight shoes.
 13. The combination of 11 where the shoes are sandals.
 14. The container of claim 10 where the secondary bag is of sufficient volume and shape to hold a pair of high-heeled shoes.
 15. A method of storing and carrying shoes in a handbag having a bottom and an openable top comprising: a) opening a hidden compartment in the bottom of a handbag from the outside of the handbag; b) extending an auxiliary bag from the compartment with the auxiliary bag's opening facing downward, its bottom being secured within the compartment; b) turning the auxiliary bag inside out and pulling it over the handbag proper; c) placing a pair of shoes in the auxiliary bag; and d) accessing the top of the handbag through the top of the auxiliary bag.
 16. The method of claim 15 further comprising removing a pair of shoes from the handbag, the shoes being lighter and flatter than the shoes placed in the auxiliary bag.
 17. A flexible hand-carried container comprising: (a) a primary bag with an upper primary opening, the primary opening providing accessibility to a primary content-holding compartment of the primary bag, the primary bag having an auxiliary compartment accessible from a lower, external region on a side opposite to the side of the upper primary opening, the auxiliary compartment extending upward and behind the primary content-holding compartment; (b) an auxiliary bag within the auxiliary compartment; the auxiliary bag, located where, when released from the compartment, its open end is disposed downward;  the auxiliary bag being secured to the primary bag in along one edge of the bottom of the floor of the auxiliary bag;  the auxiliary bag being flexible to an effective degree to be readily turned up, around, and inside-out to encompass the primary bag, leaving the primary bag upright relative to the auxiliary bag's inside-out opening and with the primary bag's upper opening facing in a common direction as the auxiliary bag's opening, providing direct accessibility to the contents of the primary bag when any flaps or closures of the primary bag are in an open state; where the relative sizes and physical relationship of the primary bag and the expanded auxiliary bag being such that space of a size of at least a pair of high heeled shoes remains in the auxiliary bag next to the primary bag not requiring use of space above the primary bag; and further, where the auxiliary compartment extends upward behind the primary content holding compartment of the primary bag to the extent of having a height and width of a substantially similar size as the measurement of the primary content holding compartment. 